Comic book writer and artist Frank Miller believes he’s never had a “meaningful crack at Superman.” He’s now taking his shot with a new Superman project. The author of The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City, and Batman: Year One is revolving his Superman story around the Man of Steel’s younger years. “It’s telling his beginnings from when Pa Kent discovered him in the cornfield, and the little boy goes to youth, and then to manhood,” Miller said. According to artist John Romita Jr., who worked with Miller on “Daredevil: The Man Without Fear,” Superman: Year One isn’t exactly a retelling of that familiar tale.

Below, Romita Jr. discusses the Frank Miller Superman comic.

Miller revealed plans for his Superman story at this year’s San Diego Comic Con. Miller isn’t drawing the comic himself. He’s collaborating with artist Romita Jr. on it. During a DC Comics Metal Panel which ComicBook.com covered, the artist explained the story isn’t retelling the one everyone and their grandma knows:

I’ve seen the reactions online about, ‘Oh, my God, here we go, another Superman origin,’ and it’s not really the origin retelling. It’s after the origin, it’s after he lands, what happens between the time he lands and the time he realizes what he is. And this slight slant on the development of Superman is that he’s really unconscious that he’s an alien ’til his parents tell him that he’s an alien. In the meantime, he just thinks he’s special. And he doesn’t appear in costume until the very end. It’s similar to the “Daredevil: Man Without Fear” back in the ’90s, and it’s the period of time up until he puts the costume on for the first time.

The artist added:

And Frank has this twisted imagination about what should happen, and we talked about it, and [Frank’s] eyes glow. He said he’s wanted to do this as long as he can remember, since, when did “Batman: Year One” come out? Was that 30 years ago? He said he always wanted to complete the cycle and do a “Superman: Year One.” Well, he finally got the chance to do it, and of course, it’s a hundred pages and there are a million people in it.

I would be a surprise if Miller didn’t have a “twisted imagination” for what should happen in a Superman comic. Romita Jr. confirmed the page count is 100 pages but added: “knowing Frank, it could be 200 pages.” How he’ll depict Clark Kent in those 100 pages raises questions. The superhero is a symbol of hope, but that’s not how he’s been depicted by Miller in the past, who has often cast him in a more cynical light.